Understanding your metabolism

How do I know how many calories I burn per day?

How can I speed up my metabolism?

These are some of the questions my clients have asked me at least once.

So, let's look at what your metabolism consists of, or, what is the amount of calories you burn per day:

1. BMR: Basal metabolic rate. The amount of calories your body burns at rest, for survival. For instance, breathing.

2. TEF: Thermic effect of food. The amount of calories your body burns just for processing the food you're eating (digesting , storing food etc). Protein has the highest TEF, so this is just another reason to eat enough protein throughout the day:)

3.NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis. The amount of calories burnt through NEAT is really under appreciated, in my opinion. NEAT means doing activities that aren't dedicated for exercising per se, but still burn additional calories throughout the day. Such activities may include taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away from your destination, fidgeting--> basically *moving* more.

4.TEE: Thermic effect of exercise. The amount of calories you burn doing your formal exercise. Such activities may include any form of cardio- biking, running, jogging, walking, and strength training.

Now, BMR+TEF+NEAT+TEE= total amount of calories you burn per day.

If you eat more than your total = you gain weight. If you eat less than your total= you lose weight. If you eat same as your total= you maintain your weight.

These numbers obviously vary according to the individual, so let's look at how you can increase each one of them, in order to increase your daily caloric burn:

1.BMR: add muscle mass.

2.TEF: eat more protein.

3.NEAT: move more throughout the day. Aim to get to 10,000 steps daily.

4.TEE: exercise regularly and make sure to include strength training and *cardio. *As a side note on cardio: if you're getting to 8-10k steps/day you should be fine on the cardio aspect.